Ethiopians pour words of condemnation against NSC remarks over GERD
Addis Ababa, June 18, 2020 (FBC) –Ethiopians came to twitter to criticize remarks by the White House National Security Council (NSC) regarding the negotiation over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
In its twitter post, NSC said “257 million people in east Africa are relying on Ethiopia to show strong leadership, which means striking a fair deal. Technical issues have been resolved – time to get the GERD deal done before filling it with Nile River water!”
After the tweet, Ethiopians at home and abroad poured voices of condemnation against NSC.
Here are some of tweets posted condemning the Council:
Ethiopia deserves a fair share of the Nile. Ethi contributing 85% of the water has never benefited from it. It is now time to fill the dam and provide electricity to the people.
— Tewolde (@tewoldeama) June 18, 2020
#Ethiopia is always on the win-win side; fair and equitable share of the #Nile….. you better advise #Egypt to scrape its colonial treaty and come up with a win-win solution. #EthiopiaNileRights #GERD
— Nebilo (@neb008) June 17, 2020
This should be written like this:
257 million people in east #Africa are observing #Egypt to show strong leadership for fair and equatable share of Nile water as per international water law. #GERD is the East African mega project.— Belachew Tesfa (@BelachewC) June 17, 2020
Dont forget almost half of the 257 million people live in #Ethiopia and 60% of them dont have electricity. 85 % of the watter comes from #Ethiopia 0% from Egypt. While #Ethiopia uses 0% of the water. #EthiopiaNileRights #mydam
— Eyob Messafint (@eyobmes) June 17, 2020
#Ethiopia will fulfill her responsibility by filling the #GERD, producing renewable energy at massive scale & supplying it to the people of East Africa. Egypt is the greatest beneficiary, water will be stored in cooler GERD, 12% less water wasted through evaporation. WIN-WIN!
— AyeleGelan (@AyeleGelan) June 18, 2020
257 million people in east #Africa are looking at the US, which means to be fair and impartial& encourage the three countries to reach an understanding with a win-win outcome. The filling of the #GERD shall continue as per the schedule to lift millions out of poverty.
— Zerihun Abebe Yigzaw #JustFillTheDam (@ZerihunZAY) June 17, 2020
Talks between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on the guidelines and rules for the first filling and annual operation of the dam are in its 7th day session.
Despite Ethiopia’s efforts to reach agreement, Egypt’s cling to the colonial-day water treaties that do not give recognition either to Ethiopia’s or the other riparian countries’ natural right to utilize the water resource is stalling the talks.
Egypt is foot lagging in the talks while attempting to take the GERD case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which doesn’t go in line with the spirits of the Declaration of Principles signed in 2015.